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Sadaharu Inui
Sadaharu Inui is a 3rd-year student and regular member of the Seigaku tennis team. He is an intelligent player and is best known for collecting player data, which he incorporates into a unique playing style known as "Data Tennis". During his match against Tezuka in the manga, it is hinted that he is the 3rd strongest 3rd year in Seigaku, behind Tezuka and Fuji. Background Four years prior to the start of the series, Inui and Yanagi Renji were an unstoppable Elementary School Doubles Pairing. Despite Inui wanting to continue their close partnership, their doubles pairing was ended when Yanagi suddenly moved to the Kanagawa Prefecture and joined Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku. Before Echizen Ryoma's arrival at Seigaku, Inui was recognised as the third-strongest player on the team, next to Fuji Shūsuke and Tezuka Kunimitsu. Inui has an intense rivalry with Tezuka, having played at least 30 matches against him and losing every single one of them. In response to Tezuka's superiority, Inui began developing his style of Data Tennis specifically to defeat Tezuka. Despite being in the regular lineup for six months, Inui was beaten by Ryoma in the intra-school ranking tournament, and then lost to Kaidō Kaoru (who had also been beaten by Echizen and was determined not to lose his spot) at the beginning of the series. Late on, he became the team's manager. He uses his data to create exercise programs for the team. Eventually, Inui is able to make it back as a regular by using the data he obtained over the time he was manager, defeating Momoshiro Takeshi, thus regaining his spot in the regulars. Despite his guaranteed spot, he played a tough match against the undefeated Tezuka and again lost to his captain. Nonetheless, Inui is enthusiastic about regaining his spot on the team. He is eager to practice with his teammates and resume his data-gathering. While he is a very good singles player, Inui usually plays doubles with various partners, most notably his protegé Kaidō Kaoru. His doubling with Kaidō helped Seigaku overcome their problems with their lack of strong doubles teams, with the exception of the Golden Pair. Appearance Ojo de Inui.png|Inui Eye Inui has fairly short, spiky black hair. He is very tall and wears thick black framed glasses. They are so thick to the point where people are unable to see his eyes. Inui's eyes have only been shown a few times through out the manga but they are brown like most other characters. This is also due to the fact that no one has ever seen him taking off his glasses, not even Tezuka. In anime his eyes are shown to be green in color. He typically wears shorts and a t-shirt when not wearing his regulars jacket, like the other members of the team. Personality Inui is quite intelligent, proven by his playing style. He is also hardworking, proven by his quick improvement during the timespan between the Prefectuals and the Kantō arcs. Due to his falling out as a regular, he took on a training regimen which was 2.25 times harder than Kaidō's, whose training regimen was already 3 times harder than his fellow teammates. However, he does have his quirks, just like the rest of the team. One of Inui's most notable traits is his penchant to brew horrible vegetable juices (named "Inui Juices"), which he uses mostly in practice as punishment for players who fail the training menus. Only he and Fuji dare to drink. He. however, do not understand why people are so afraid of them since he finds them to be very beneficial for the body and delicious (most times). Inu i often spies on his teammates outside of school or practice, such as the time when Tachibana An took Momoshiro on a tennis date, or when Kawamura went on a "date" with Akutsu Jin's mother Yūki, whom everyone mistook for his girlfriend since she was a beautiful and very young-looking woman. He also spies on people from other teams, like when he went to report on the Ginka team right after Ryoma Echizen defeated them to rescue Ryuzaki Sakuno from their bullying. He even does this in the last episode of the manga, where he spies on Fuji teasing Tezuka. Due to this Inui is very observant and can often pick out small vital pieces of information that a majority of his team can not. He is usually seen carrying a notebook around, in which he scribbles all the data he has gathered -- including personal data. He believes that "data does not lie" and relies on it very heavily when playing tennis. He would often use data outside of tennis, for example often putting a percentage on whether an action would fail or succeed. History Districts Due to Inui being dropped out of the Regulars, he is unable to participate in the Tokyo District tournament. However, he proves himself to be very competent by not only devising various training regimen for his team, but he also collects various data on his school's opponents, being the first to find out that the Fudomine team had completely changed compared to the previous year. Tokyo Prefecturals Inui and Seigaku entered the Prefecturals as amongst the favorites. Regionals Regional Select Invitationals Camp Inui and the Seigaku regulars recieve invitations to the Regional Invitationals Camp Regional Select Invitationals Inui sits in the audience during the match between Kanto Region Japan Junior Representatives against the USA West Coast Region Junior Representatives. Nationals In last finals he plays doubles with Kaido against Rikkai's Yanagi and Kirihara but lost at the end. Prior To U-17 Camp U-17 Camp After winning the Nationals with Seishun Gakuen, Inui and the other 8 regulars of Seigaku are invited to Japan's U-17 training camp. During one of the training programs at the camp, all the middle schoolers are told to pair up; due to his usual partner Kaidō partnering up with Tezuka and his childhood friend Renji pairing up with his underclassman Kirihara Akaya, Inui is left with a fellow Data Tennis player Mizuki Hajime, believing that they'll be having a doubles match. However, the coach in charge of the program, Mental Coach Saitō Itaru, suddenly announces that all the pairs must play a tie-breaker Singles Match against each other where the loser must leave the camp. Due to a miscalculation in an ingredient in one of his Inui Juices, however, Inui ends up with a minor case of diarrhea/some form of stomachache and is unable to make it to his match in time, thus being forced to forfeit his match. Fortunately, however, Inui and everyone else that lost their tie-breaker match gain a chance to redeem themselves by training up in the mountains with the Drunken Coach and all the other middle schoolers that lost their tie-break games. Afterwards, all 25 middle schoolers that lost their tie-breaks arrive back to the U-17 camp and defeat the 8 original members of the 2nd Court, allowing Inui and the rest of the members that lost their tie-breaker match to be the current member of the 2nd Court. U-17 Camp Revolution When Renji challenges Mitsuya Akuto, Inui accompanies them, watching from the sidelines. Partway through the match, Renji loses motivation to continue because he calculates that the probability of his victory was 0%. Inui, however, calls out to him and reminds him of the nationals, convincing Renji to discard his data and play with all he has. Renji loses the match and collapses, entrusting the match to Inui, who had a 33.1% probability of winning, likely due to the data he was able to collect during Renji's match. It appears that Inui defeated Mitsuya Akuto, but Renji is seen wearing the No. 17 badge instead of Inui when the middle schoolers return to the courts. Tennis Record Official Middle School Tournaments *'NOTE-1' The match against Midoriyama only took place in the manga, while Jōsei Shōnan's match existed only in the anime. *'NOTE-2 '''No results due to Seigaku already winning 3 sets. Seigaku Ranking Matches Other Matches U-17 Camp Results *'NOTE-1''' Due to drinking an Inui Juice-gone-bad at the wrong time, Inui was too preoccupied in the bathroom to make it to his match on time, thus giving Mizuki his win. Playing Style and Techniques Inui uses a serve-and-volley tactic, preferring the net over the baseline. Inui has a distinct lack of special techniques in his play, but he makes up for this by using his unique style of play, known as Data Tennis. His serve, height and his data allows full control in his net play. Inui's data-based style of play was inspired by his childhood friend, Yanagi Renji. Originally, one of his weaknesses was the inability to keep up with the speed of the data, as shown against Ryoma and Kaidō. However, after an extensive training regimen (which was 2.25 times greater than Kaidō's, who already had a training regimen 3 times tougher than his teammates), he was able to overcome this weakness and improved his data even further. Data Tennis (データテニス) A style of tennis based on data gathered on the opponents, by using his extensive research of opponents, Inui is able to mentally simulate the course of the match. Not only can he quickly calculate the probability of a shot, he shows a sharp understanding of player psychology and is able to observe even the slightest movements. Inui uses this data as a weapon to control the match from the beginning. In the intra-school ranking match against Tezuka, Inui overcomes Tezuka's mind games and accurately calculates the chances of Tezuka's drop shot. Furthermore, Inui identifies that Tezuka lowers his racket by 3.2mm before hitting the drop shot, distinguishing it clearly from Tezuka's regular technique. Inui's Data Tennis has the distinct weakness of not being able to predict changes during the game itself. Inui loses against Ryoma and Tezuka after they displayed their true strengths and used techniques that he had never encountered before. He also has difficulty gathering data for players with abnormal abilities, such as Akutsu Jin, as well as players who hide their abilities, like Fuji. Coach Ryūzaki identifies that while Inui is able to predict the outcome of a game, he was unable to win because he lacked the strength and speed to use his data. As a result, Inui trained harder than the Seigaku regulars and was recognised as having much greater strength upon his return to the regular lineup. Inui is also aware of these limitations. While he confidently states that "data does not lie", he occasionally berates other players for sticking too closely to data and not understanding the human element of the game, such as St.Rudolph's Mizuki Hajime's humiliating defeat at the hands of Shūsuke Fuji. During the Kantō Finals Singles 3 match against Rikkai Dai, Inui temporarily throws away his data while playing against Renji in order to defeat his opponent's Data Tennis. ;Super Sonic Serve (超高速サーブ) A high-speed serve that is difficult to return, it was originally simply called the 'Sonic Serve' or just a 'high-speed serve' (高速サーブ). However, after his training, the serve got faster and earned the name of 'Super Sonic Serve.' The record from this serve was 192 km/h. Waterfall (ウォーターフォール) ''(データテニス) '' Inui took his Super Sonic Serve even further and improved the speed to 212 km/h in the National Quarterfinals against Hyōtei in Doubles 2, which surpassed Ootori Chōtarō's Scud Serve and set the new record for the fastest serve in the tournament. However, the record was broken by Ootori Neo Scud Serve at 215 km/h and beat by Echizen with his teni muhou no kiwami in the national tournament finals recording 220 km/h Its arc and descent resemble hat of a waterfall. As shown during the National Finals Doubles 2 match against the Kirihara/Yanagi pair, the Waterfall can be used with spin to achieve a different trajectory. It was not named by Inui himself, he had overheard the description of his serve by Katō Katsuro as resembling a waterfall the engulfs the opponent. It was first seen in the national championship against Hyōtei Gakuen in Doubles 2. Anime Only ;Super Rising A half-volley where the user immediately hit the ball after bouncing, Inui used this in his Singles 3 match with Yanagi Renji of Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku during the Kantō Finals after 'throwing away his data'. ;Jack Knife The Jack Knife is a fast, sharp and powerful high-leveled backhand shot made by using the front foot to jump into the air with balance while utilizing a pendulum-like effect of the body to achieve maximum strength. Originally used by teammate Momoshiro Takeshi, Inui used this in his Singles 3 match with Yanagi Renji of Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku during the Kantō Finals after 'throwing away his data'. Inui Juice Inui created several Inui Juices as punishment for his teammate's failures. Personal Information *Height: 184 cm *Weight: 62 kg *Blood Type: AB *Horoscope Sign: Gemini *Family Composition: Father, Mother *Father's Occupation (Family Business): Public Officer *Spends Allowance On: Note Book and Literature Reference Book *Motto: Knowledge is an Everlasting Treasure *Elementary School: Midorigawa (Daiichi) First Elementary School *Best Subjects: Physics *Worse Subjects: Home Economics (esp. Cooking) *Committee: School Festival Planning Committee *Places often visited in school: Third Archive Room *Favourite Colour: Black *Favourite Food: Durian (Momoshirou’s guessing), Soup Spaghetti (Eiji’s guessing) *Favourite Movie: Korean Movie *Favourite Book: Mystery Novels *Favourite Music: Any Type *Favourite Type: Calm and collected person, preferably older woman *Place you want to go for dates: Art Museum *Thing you want most now: Latest Design Mixer *Routine duties: Organizing Data and Glasses Care and Cleaning *Dislikes(/bad at): Lightning Strike, Electricity Failure (Because he can’t use the computer) *Skills outside of tennis: Othello, Shougi, Chess, Go *Favorite Shoe Brand: Puma (Sequence PT0636 0067) *Favorite Racquet Brand: Prince (Graphite Challenge) *His first love lasted a total of 4.2 seconds Bag Check *'Laptop + calculator' A laptop for storing data, and a calculator for calculating trajectory and probabilities. *'Recording/playback MD player' Something to verbally note down things he just thought of or to record when he hears information from someone. *'8mm video tape' Clips he has taken are contained inside this handy video tape. They are mostly matches of Seigaku and other schools. *'Secret notebook + rule book' In the secret notebook, is the data of a certain great player. The rule book is used to guide kouhais. *'Hole-puncher' Used when he files sheets of paper that he has written data on. Not to mention that he uses two hole-punchers. *'Digital camera' Used to record form checks of Seigaku members, and the situation on tournament grounds. *'Counter + tape measure' These derive all kinds of numerical data. Used together with the calculator or the laptop. *'Binoculars' To be able to see the details no matter how far a match is, this is a high-magnification binoculars. A 10,000 yen product. Quotes *(To Renji) If my data tennis is being read completely then...I will throw away all my data. Running Jokes in the Anime *Inui attempting to escape a punishment he cannot take, and the result is usually something worse, such as: **Ex: His avoidance of the "Silver Seat", by taking a hit to the face with a volleyball resulted in his partner, Kisarazu Ryō, accidentally pulling off his swim trunks **Ex: Inui slipping on the dinner table at Nikubiku Garden during the Yakinuki Battle, and adverently gets his pants pulled down and his privates burned by the grill due to Tezuka's attempts to save him. *Inui habitually appears behind others unannounced *Inui using his data and math formulas to win games such as Bowling and Billiards, but only to fail. *Other characters attempting to see Inui's face without his glasses *Various situations involving Inui Juice, mostly using it as punishment. *One night during the training camp prior to the match against Rikkai, Ryoma attempts to catch Inui without his glasses. However, he is thwarted when Inui turns and shows that he is wearing a blindfold. Trivia *In the anime, both of Inui's eyes are first seen in the short movie Atobe kara no Okurimono (Atobe's Gift in English). When Inui is jumping during one of the competitions held by Atobe in the festival, both of his eyes are revealed. Prior to that, only one of his eyes were shown in the anime series; during episode 168, which Inui's glasses were broken in a regulars match with Kikumaru Eiji. In the manga, we can see his eyes during the match against Yanagi Renji (Chapter 211 pgs 18-19), and we can see another picture of his eyes in the cover of his single "Distance". *Like Tezuka, Inui is an only child. His parents are among the few of the Seigaku tennis team members that are barely mentioned in the series, contrasted with others such as Ryoma, Kawamura, or Fuji, who have had most of their family members introduced. *In the Prince of Tennis Musicals, Inui has been portrayed by actors Sota Aoyama (2003-2005), Hirofumi Araki (2005-2006), Masei Nakayama (2006-2007), Yuuta Takahashi (2007-2009), Yusuke Arai (2009-2010), and Teruma (2011-present). Araki Hirofumi portrays Inui in the live-action adaptation film. *In the Spanish dubbing for Animax channel in Latin America, due to the particular Spanish accents, his first name is pronounced "Sadaharu" (Most of the characters are called by their given names). *In the TeniPuri Family chibi episodes Inui is the father of the family and can always be seen quoting data and statistics. He's also often beaten up by Oishi, who plays the mother of the family and has a rather volatile temper. *When Inui was doubles partners with Yanagi, he was called "Hakase" which means doctor. *In Pair Puri 2 in the nicknames section, it is said that one of Inui's nicknames is 'Dataman'. Category:Seigaku Tennis Club Member Category:Serve and Volley Category:Data Tennis Users Category:Tokyo Players Category:3rd Year Middle School Category:Middle Schooler Category:U-17 Camp Category:Kanto Players Category:Characters Category:Tennis Player Category:Right-Handed Category:Has an episode named after them Category:Doubles Specialists Category:Capable with Singles and Doubles Category:Revolutionary Brigade